My Roadtrip to Houston

I never realized how much I missed Houston until I came back this year. As I passed by certain streets, random memories began to pop up. Like where I used to drop off the pitch books for the MDs and Ds (Managing Directors of Investment banks, not medical doctors), shopping spots, concert spots, excellent restaurants, casual Sunday brunch places, salsa hideouts. And as I drove through these places, I began to channel how I was feeling at the time, 2 years ago, when I lived there. I was mostly stressed, anxious, worried, frazzled. It is always strange experiencing your past as a future you.

Anyways that's when I regretted not appreciating my job enough as an investment banker. It really was a neat job, albeit stressful. I liked the responsibility, the structure, the teamwork. Back then I just didn't have the maturity to handle the stress effectively, or to fully comprehend the meaning of everything I was doing. And now... I think I would like the job, but that's just because I understand myself a lot better now. I didn't back then.

So my trip to Houston started with a drive down to my favorite teahouse on Shepard and Westheimer. A few hours later, had dinner with a salsa friend, then left to another salsa party of for Terri's birthday at Byzantine Cafe.



There was quite a lot of dancing. But I can say, nothing feels better than working up a sweat dancing salsa for 3 hours (with people who can actually dance).

Photos courtesy of Facebook.

After the party, went out to drinks at Baker Street Pub with an old college friend from Louisiana. And the bar was so... Anglo Saxon, it was nice after so long in Spain. I really appreciate those English pubs with loud American music. Feels like home.

The next day was lunch at Hooters with Trey and then went to a coffee shop and did more work on the laptop. Was messaged by another friend from Tulane who *surprise!* was going to start grad school in Houston. It was amazing. It seemed like everyone I knew was in Houston. And I guess I missed it. Went out to for a midday snack with a realtor friend of mine from salsa class and then drove back home to Austin...

I have mixed feelings about Houston. I definitely missed the place, and it seemed like everyone I knew was there, and to stay. But on the other hand, I didn't really find what I was looking for when I was there. But the question is, would I find it anywhere else?